The wireless communication is, for example, represented by a wireless local area network (LAN) that conforms to the IEEE802.11 series standard which requires numerous setting items to be set before a communication apparatus is used. For example, communication parameters, such as service set identification (SSID) as a network identifier, an encryption method, an encryption key, an authentication method, and an authentication key, are necessary setting items to be set in advance when each communication apparatus performs wireless communication. Manually inputting this kind of setting items beforehand is very troublesome for users of communication apparatuses.
To solve this problem, there are conventional automatic setting methods for simply setting communication parameters to a wireless device, which are available from manufacturers of the communication apparatuses. For example, when a conventionally discussed automatic setting method is applied to two devices connected with each other, one device can provide communication parameters to the other device according to a predetermined procedure and messages and the other device can automatically set the provided communication parameters.
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ for Wi-Fi Protected Setup: Easing the User Experience for Home and Small Office Wi-Fi® Networks, http://www.wi-fi.org/wp/wifi-protected-setup introduces an example of the automatic setting of communication parameters in a wireless LAN infrastructure mode communication (hereinafter, referred to as “-”).
Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 2006-352282, No. 2006-311138, and No. 2006-309458 discuss examples of the automatic setting of communication parameters in a wireless LAN ad hoc network mode communication (hereinafter, referred to as “ad hoc communication”). According to the automatic communication parameter setting processing discussed in Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 2006-352282, No. 2006-311138, and No. 2006-309458, a device that performs ad hoc communication selects a device from a plurality of devices that join the network as an apparatus (a providing apparatus) that provides communication parameters and the providing apparatus provides communication parameters to another device (a reception apparatus).
As described above, conventionally discussed techniques for automatically setting communication parameters enable users to easily set the communication parameters automatically with a simple operation.
Further, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-035373, there is a conventional apparatus that includes an access point function and a station function and enables users to perform switching between the access point function and the station function.